As They Should Be
by DeadManSeven
Summary: Short WAFF about Toji and Hikari


Neon Genesis Evangelion and all things associated with are not my idea, much as I wish   
they were, they are owned by GAINAX. I don't want money for this, so don't take mine.   
I'm so damn sick of disclaimers...  
Alright, WAFF, what comes to mind when you hear that? Shinji and Asuka? Shinji and   
Rei? Maybe even Shinji and Kaworu? What about Toji and Hikari? Yeah, that blindsided   
you all, didn't it? Why has nobody though of this angle before? Sure, any half-decent   
series with some timeline-skewing has them getting together, and it never stops coming   
up in large continuation fics, but as a set-alone story? Nah. Never seen it. Why? Does   
everyone _like_ reading OOC WAFF? (Come on, just try and tell me that ninety percent of   
WAFF is not blindingly out-of-character...)  
I apologise for the title. It has been used before by an author called Kitsume for a   
Shinji/Kaworu fic, but it just works so well...  
I tried to get this to work before, and it didn't really go anywhere interesting, but now I   
want to try a different direction. So here is, in my humble opinion, is the first WAFF about   
Evangelion's true couple...  
  
  
*As They Should Be - Derek Zischke*  
  
Toji sat at his desk, listening to their ancient teacher slowly turn another mathematics   
lesson into a recounting of the Second Impact. Some days he would stick to the subject   
he was supposed to be teaching; however, on days like today...  
Toji glanced around the room, looking at his classmates, trying to see if they were   
handling the mind-numbing boredom any better than he was. No such luck. Shinji and   
Asuka were slumped over their desks, occasionally looking around, avoiding each other's   
glance. Toji assumed that had come from something at home: Asuka was always blowing   
up at Shinji for no good reason. Ayanami stared out the window, as she always did,   
displaying her custom total disinterest to the world around her. Kensuke was doing   
something on his little school-issue computer, and Toji was pretty sure it didn't involve an   
algebraic formulae.  
Beep Beep! Beep Beep!  
Toji's computer started making short beeping noises. He dragged though the recesses of   
his memory, trying to remember what that meant, as he hardly ever used it.  
Beep Beep! Beep Beep!  
As he flipped open the screen, he was able to recall that it was trying to tell his that he   
was receiving a message. Kensuke, probably.  
_Forget it_, he thought. _I may be bored, but I'm not_ that _bored._  
On his screen was a text box: a back-and-forth communication. Written inside was:  
Hello Toji.  
He typed in his response.  
Go away, Kensuke.  
He hit the return key, and watched his hacker friend. Strangely enough, he didn't seem   
to react. A new message came up on his screen.  
This isn't Kensuke.  
And so it wasn't: that fact that he hadn't moved proved that. Toji tried to remember who   
was sitting behind him, because no one else seemed to have their computers open. No   
one he could see, anyway.  
Who are you? The response he got was definitely not the one he was expecting.  
Someone who likes you a lot.  
Then, following that:  
Meet me after school.  
Toji typed in cautiously:  
Where?  
I'll find you. Bye.  
The text box closed itself.  
Toji shook his head. He guessed he would find out who it was after school, one way or   
another.  
  
"Stand up! Bow! Class dismissed!"  
As the rest of Class 2-A exited the classroom, Hikari sank back into her chair, her eyes   
gazing off into an imaginary distance.  
"Hello? Are you awake? Hi-ka-ri..." Asuka waved her hand in front of Hikari's face.  
"I did it," she said, seeming not to even notice Asuka standing near her.  
"Did what?"  
"Got his attention..."  
"What?" Her brow furrowed. Then she realised what her friend was talking about. "Oh,   
him. I don't know what you like about him."  
Hikari slowly stood up.  
"You haven't heard him talk about things the way I have. He's nice..."  
"I don't _get_ you..."  
  
Toji felt the ball leave his hand as he dodged an oncomer. It sprang back to his   
fingertips, and he spun, avoiding the swipe of another member of the imaginary team.   
He finished his turn, leaped into the air, and shot the ball towards the basket. It rolled   
around the rim a few times, and then sank.  
"Good shot," he heard someone say behind him. He turned around, surprised.  
"Oh...hi, Hikari."  
"What are you doing here?" she asked, walking into the court and sitting at one of the   
benches on the sidelines, near where Toji had put his schoolbag.  
"I was just waiting for someone. I thought I might work on my game, y'know...," he said,   
slowly dribbling the basketball.  
"Can I help you wait?" Hikari asked.  
"Sure...unless you have to be somewhere." He turned away and shot. The ball hit the   
backboard but missed the ring.  
"No...I can wait for a while." She watched him run off to recover his ball, and she   
thought to herself, _Maybe he really doesn't think of me that way. Maybe I'd be better   
off just going now._  
She shook her head.  
_No. I'm going to try._  
  
Toji, after sinking a few more baskets, came and sat next to Hikari. She though he had   
finally realised, but her face fell when he started looking for something in his bag. She   
had noticed that he wasn't noticing _her_; in fact, he had continued practising as if she   
wasn't even there. She was going to have to make the first move.  
"Mister Suzuhara...," she began.  
"Toji," he said, not even looking at her.  
"What?"  
"Call me Toji." He looked up from his bag and smiled at her.  
"Alright...Toji...um, how do you...feel about me?"  
He paused for a second, and then sat down beside her, although Hikari thought that it   
was because he couldn't find what he had been looking for.  
"I don't know." He looked at her. "You're more interesting than Ikari." Another pause.   
"Less irritating than Kensuke." He went back to rummaging in his schoolbag.  
"I mean...do you..._like_ me?"  
Toji now looked up from his bag again, and Hikari thought that now he realised.  
She leaned over and kissed him, moving herself closer. Toji, after a few seconds of   
surprise, began to return the kiss.  
She pulled away from him, and said softly, "Because I think I like you."  
"You sent the message?" he asked her, and she could only respond by nodding her head.  
"Hikari...I had no idea..."  
"It's okay...now you do..."  
She kissed him again, and this time she could feel his hands holding her, drawing her   
close. She felt his slow, steady, breathing across her cheek, and the slow, steady beating   
of his heart. Hikari had waited a long time for this moment - and now, as she wrapped   
her arms around Toji, she thought to herself that she never wanted it to end.  
  
Hand in hand, the pair watched the sun set and buildings rise over Tokyo-3.  
"It's beautiful...how did you find out about this place?"  
"Shinji talks about it sometimes...do you want me to walk you home?"  
"Not just yet...this is becoming more and more like a date, Toji."  
Toji placed his arm around Hikari's waist.  
"I love you, Toji."  
"I love you too, Hikari."  
They kissed one final time as the sun slowly vanished below the horizon.  
  
  
-Derek Zischke  
ageless_strange@optusnet.com.au  
  
"Do you suffer from long-term memory loss? I can't remember..."  
-Chumbawhamba  



End file.
